Bulgarian vehicle administration official who demanded bribe fined 5000 leva, community service

A former Bulgarian Motor Vehicle Administration official who demanded a 20 euro bribe from a Turkish lorry driver – who filmed the incident – has been sentenced to community service over a period of two years and fined 5000 leva (about 2500 euro), Bulgarian National Radio reported on February 21 2019.

The June 2015 incident became an online hit in Bulgaria and resulted in the dismissal of Petar Vassilev as a Motor Vehicle Administration inspector.

The Haskovo District Court also ordered Vassilev to regularly meet a probation officer. The community service, over a period of two years, must add up to 100 hours a year, the court ruled.

In the video, Vassilev is heard demanding that the driver give him cash in euro, not Turkish lira. He adds, in broken Turkish, that he wants a blue note (20 euro) not a brown one (10 euro).

The driver, whose camera was on the dashboard of his lorry, posted the video the day after the incident.

The sentence is subject to appeal in the Plovdiv Court of Appeal, Bulgarian National Radio said./IBNA